The Mayor of London should make the inclusion of car club spaces compulsory on new developments to help move towards a Boris Bike-style system of A-to-B journeys, according to a new report.

‘Cutting Congestion: The Case for Car Clubs’, by Keith Prince AM, suggests increased numbers of spaces would make car clubs more attractive to drivers and could cut congestion on London’s roads and improve air quality.

Currently, a lack of available spaces means the vast majority of car clubs operate on a policy which means the driver must return the car back to the point it was collected.

The report cites evidence showing that every car club car in existence takes 13.4 vehicles off the road and claims the travel method could be the answer to reducing the number of cars in the capital.

Mr Prince also proposes a unique scrappage scheme using cash raised from the new T-charge. The idea involves offering drivers car club and public transport vouchers worth several times more than the value of their vehicle to encourage them to part with their car.

With a suggested maximum offer of £3,000 of vouchers, there would be enough money from the expected £23million T-charge income to take at least 7,650 older cars off the road.

Report author and London Assembly member Keith Prince said: “This report shows that, where car clubs are successful, there is a significant reduction in the number of vehicles on the road. That has to be something worth investing in.

“It’s easy to envision a future in London where very few people choose to own a car and they are instead used like Boris Bikes, with people picking them up and dropping them off in different parts of the capital.

“The number of parking spaces available to car clubs is a significant barrier to their growth but the Mayor has an opportunity to help overcome that with the compulsory inclusion of spaces in new developments.

“So far, Sadiq Khan has used punitive measures to try and dissuade people from using cars. Incentives like the scrappage scheme and increased availability of car clubs must also form part of the package if London’s congestion and air quality is going to be improved.”

Notes

Keith Prince is the GLA Conservatives’ Transport Spokesman

Report recommendations:

The Mayor should act as a facilitator, working with London’s boroughs and London’s car clubs to significantly expand the numbers of car club parking spaces available.

The Mayor should drive forward the setting up of an open access approach to car club parking spaces. In so doing he should encourage car clubs to allow point-to-point car club journeys.

The Mayor should use the funds raised by his T-charge to offer transport credits, which could be used to pay for car club membership and trips.

The Mayor should ensure, via his London Plan, that every new development has access to car club provision